Best credit cards for our college kids? (credit building)
Posted: Fri Oct 06, 2017 8:07 pm
We really need to get our college kids (almost 21 and 18) credit cards soon.
The almost-21 year old already has a car loan that my husband co-signed for her last January, and at that time, she was a "ghost". (I.e., when the car dealership ran her credit, she didn't have a file.) Now she's got 9 months of on time payments for the car, so that's good. She has a co-op job while in school, so she has some earnings, if that matters.
Our 18 year old is a college freshman with little-to-no credit history and no near-term expectations for buying a car, etc. I'm sure he's a "ghost" as well.
They each have debit cards that have worked fine thus far for credit-type purchases, and we are on their accounts, so we can easily transfer in money as needed, etc. However, with the possibility of one or both going abroad next summer and/or future semesters, I'd like them to have access to a credit card with maybe 3-5k in credit for emergencies/unforeseen sudden need when we aren't accessible to give a credit card number.
We pay the kids' bills, and they're responsible. We have great credit (800+) and no plans to borrow any money for anything in the foreseeable future, lol. And we have plenty of credit cards with humongous credit lines (why do they do that?!). I don't want to add them as users on a cc with a 30k credit limit . . . But I'd be happy to have a card with a 5k limit that they were users on . . .
How is it best to help them get a card for access to money AND to build their credit files?
I don't want them (i.e., us) to pay fees for a card . . . Should I set aside one of "our" cards as the "kid" card and put them each on as an additional user with their own cards on our account? Should I do this with two separate cards (one for each) or is it just as good to do it with one card? Or just get them their own cards (with us as co-signer?)? Or should we ask our local bank (who likes us, they have all our business accounts as well, so they work hard to keep us happy) about individual cards for them in their own names?
Ideas? Thanks!
The almost-21 year old already has a car loan that my husband co-signed for her last January, and at that time, she was a "ghost". (I.e., when the car dealership ran her credit, she didn't have a file.) Now she's got 9 months of on time payments for the car, so that's good. She has a co-op job while in school, so she has some earnings, if that matters.
Our 18 year old is a college freshman with little-to-no credit history and no near-term expectations for buying a car, etc. I'm sure he's a "ghost" as well.
They each have debit cards that have worked fine thus far for credit-type purchases, and we are on their accounts, so we can easily transfer in money as needed, etc. However, with the possibility of one or both going abroad next summer and/or future semesters, I'd like them to have access to a credit card with maybe 3-5k in credit for emergencies/unforeseen sudden need when we aren't accessible to give a credit card number.
We pay the kids' bills, and they're responsible. We have great credit (800+) and no plans to borrow any money for anything in the foreseeable future, lol. And we have plenty of credit cards with humongous credit lines (why do they do that?!). I don't want to add them as users on a cc with a 30k credit limit . . . But I'd be happy to have a card with a 5k limit that they were users on . . .
How is it best to help them get a card for access to money AND to build their credit files?
I don't want them (i.e., us) to pay fees for a card . . . Should I set aside one of "our" cards as the "kid" card and put them each on as an additional user with their own cards on our account? Should I do this with two separate cards (one for each) or is it just as good to do it with one card? Or just get them their own cards (with us as co-signer?)? Or should we ask our local bank (who likes us, they have all our business accounts as well, so they work hard to keep us happy) about individual cards for them in their own names?
Ideas? Thanks!